Cisco Business CBS350-8S-E-2G Ethernet Switch

The Cisco Business CBS350-8S-E-2G Ethernet Switch is a compact, high-performance cornerstone designed to power small offices and branch locations with reliable, secure, and scalable network connectivity. Built to handle everyday business tasks—from file sharing and cloud applications to video conferencing and secure guest networks—it blends enterprise-level features with accessible management. This switch is crafted for environments where dependable performance, moderate latency, and straightforward administration matter most. Whether you’re upgrading an aging network or planning a new office deployment, the CBS350-8S-E-2G delivers the right balance of simplicity and capability to keep your team productive while simplifying IT operations.

Designed to integrate with the Cisco Business ecosystem, this model emphasizes intelligent design, energy efficiency, and robust security. It provides flexible uplink options to connect to core switches, routers, and cloud services, enabling you to segment traffic with VLANs, prioritize critical applications with QoS, and protect your network with ACLs and secure management features. In a world where cloud-based apps and remote work are the norm, a dependable switch that offers straightforward management, clear visibility, and scalable performance is essential—and the CBS350-8S-E-2G fits that requirement with a purpose-built feature set for small business networks.

From a practical standpoint, the CBS350-8S-E-2G is designed to reduce management overhead while delivering powerful capabilities. Its modular approach to connectivity—8 SFP ports for fiber or copper fiber-compatible connections, plus 2 Gigabit uplink ports—enables you to build resilient topologies, extend your network to office habitats, and adapt as your organization grows. With a focus on security and reliability, this switch helps ensure your data stays within your defined boundaries and your critical applications get the bandwidth they need without unnecessary interruptions. You can deploy it in a small rack or on a sturdy desk, making it a versatile fit for modern, agile work environments.

On the management side, Cisco’s emphasis on user-friendly administration shines through in the CBS350 family. You’ll find a balanced combination of a web-based graphical user interface, CLI access for advanced configuration, and the Cisco Business Dashboard for centralized oversight. This approach allows IT staff to set up and maintain VLANs, configure QoS policies to prioritize voice and video traffic, implement security measures to prevent unauthorized access, and monitor performance in real time. Cloud-friendly features, scalable monitoring, and simple firmware updates help you stay current with minimal disruption—an important consideration for small teams without a dedicated network operations center.

In the broader market, small business switches must deliver reliable performance with predictable latency, robust security, and straightforward expansion. The CBS350-8S-E-2G embodies these traits. It offers essential Layer 2 capabilities for efficient traffic forwarding, along with select Layer 3-lite features that enable smarter routing decisions in smaller networks. The combination of SFP ports and copper uplinks supports flexible network architectures—whether you’re connecting to fiber backbones, linking to wireless access points with high-throughput backhaul, or extending your LAN to remote sites. The result is a flexible, future-ready platform that helps you defend your investment while accommodating evolving networking needs.

For business continuity, this switch is built to handle peak office hours with stable, low-latency forwarding, while its security and policy controls help you maintain a protected environment. VLAN tagging, ACLs, and port security assist in segmenting traffic for sensitive data and supporting multi-tenant or departmental networks within a single physical site. Combined with robust management features and scalable topology options, the CBS350-8S-E-2G gives small businesses a dependable platform that can grow with them—from a single-office setup to a multi-site network—without forcing a costly, complex upgrade path.

• High-density connectivity with 8 SFP ports for flexible fiber or copper connections and 2 G uplinks for rapid links to the core network or cloud gateways.
• Advanced security and segmentation features including VLANs, ACLs, 802.1X, and secure management to protect sensitive data and prevent unauthorized access.
• Comprehensive management options via a user-friendly web GUI, CLI, and Cisco Business Dashboard for centralized visibility, provisioning, and monitoring.
• Quality of Service (QoS) and traffic management to prioritize critical applications such as VoIP, video conferencing, and cloud services, ensuring consistent performance.
• Scalable, future-ready design with IPv6 support, STP/RSTP/MST, Link Aggregation (LACP), IGMP snooping, and other essential features for robust small-office networks.

Technical Details of Cisco Business CBS350-8S-E-2G

• Model: CBS350-8S-E-2G
• Ports: 8 x SFP ports + 2 x 1-Gigabit Ethernet uplinks
• Performance: High-throughput, enterprise-grade switching with low latency for business applications
• Management: Web GUI, CLI, SNMP, and Cisco Business Dashboard for centralized management and monitoring
• Security: Access control lists (ACLs), 802.1X authentication, DHCP Snooping, Dynamic ARP Inspection, and secure management interfaces
• Layer 2 / Layer 3-lite features: VLANs, QoS, Link Aggregation (LACP), IGMP Snooping, STP/RSTP/MST for loop prevention
• IPv6 support: Yes, with dual-stack interoperability
• Physical design: Desktop or rack-mountable form factor with suitable cooling for office environments

How to Install Cisco Business CBS350-8S-E-2G

• Choose a location with good ventilation, stable surface, and convenient access to power and network cabling. If mounting in a rack, align with adjacent equipment and secure using standard rack hardware.
• Position the switch and connect the 8 SFP ports to your fiber or copper-enabled devices, such as distribution switches, servers, or wireless controllers. Attach the 2 x 1G RJ-45 uplinks to the core switch or router as your network’s uplink path.
• Connect an initial management computer to a management port or to a VLAN-accessible management network. Power on the switch and access the management interface via the documented URL or IP address. Begin with the basic configuration: set a secure management password, configure a management VLAN, and apply a basic security policy.
• Configure VLANs to segment traffic by department or service type (for example, VLANs for voice, data, and video). Implement QoS policies to prioritize real-time applications and set up ACLs to enforce security rules across switch interfaces.
• Enable features such as Link Aggregation (LACP) to provide redundant, higher-bandwidth uplinks, and configure IGMP snooping and multicast settings if you rely on multicast-enabled services or streaming media.
• Review the Cisco Business Dashboard for centralized visibility, monitor port statistics and error rates, and set up alerts for critical events. Apply firmware updates when available to maintain security and performance, following Cisco’s recommended upgrade procedures.

Frequently asked questions

• What is the primary use case for the CBS350-8S-E-2G? It’s designed for small offices and branch networks that require reliable 8-port SFP connectivity with two uplink ports, offering secure management, VLAN segmentation, QoS, and scalable features for cloud-based and on-premises applications.
• Does this model support PoE? The CBS350 family includes PoE variants, but PoE support is model-dependent. This specific CBS350-8S-E-2G focuses on SFP connectivity and uplinks; verify the exact PoE capabilities in the official spec sheet for this variant if PoE is required.
• What management options are available? You can configure and monitor the switch via a web-based GUI, the Cisco CLI for advanced configurations, SNMP for network monitoring, and the Cisco Business Dashboard for centralized management and cloud-based insights.
• Can I use this switch with IPv6 networks? Yes. The CBS350-8S-E-2G supports IPv6, enabling modern addressing schemes and future-ready network configurations while maintaining compatibility with IPv4 networks.
• What deployment scenarios is this switch best suited for? It’s ideal for small offices, home offices with professional needs, satellite offices, and small retail environments that require reliable campus connectivity, centralized management, traffic segmentation, and robust security without a large hardware footprint.
• How do I expand or upgrade the network later? You can integrate the CBS350-8S-E-2G into a broader Cisco Business network by linking its 2x Ethernet uplinks to the core or distribution layer, adding additional CBS350 switches or compatible Cisco devices, and progressively adopting more advanced features as your network grows.